Florida Panthers Add Drew Estate Lounge, Exclusive Year of the Rat Cigar

There’s another cigar lounge coming to a Florida hockey arena. Drew Estate has announced that it will open up the company’s newest lounge at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Fla., home to the Florida Panthers.

The new lounge, which includes an indoor bar area and humidor and an outdoor smoking lounge, will open at a private event on Friday.

“Drew Estate was our first choice when partnering with a cigar company,” said Charlie Turano, an evp of the Florida Panthers, in a press release. “What we expected was a cool brand with creative execution; what we didn’t expect was a friendship with a group of people we so admire and with whom we absolutely love spending time.”

In addition, the new arena will get an exclusive cigar, the Year of the Rat, a 5 1/2 x 46 addition to the Liga Privada Único Serie. The cigar uses a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper, Brazilian binder and Honduran and Nicaraguan filler. It is offered in 10-count boxes and is priced at $14 per cigar. It is only offered for sale at the BB&T Center Drew Estate lounge.

“This new lounge brings the Rebirth of Cigars to a broad new audience of hockey fans at the BB&T Center,” said Michael Cellucci, president of Drew Estate, “On a personal level, I am a huge fan of the Florida Panthers. I became a season ticket holder this year and have been so impressed with the ownership, their management of the team and the family environment that is reminiscent of the Drew Estate’s culture, so this is especially exciting for me.”

Drew Estate joins a small list of companies with branded cigar lounges at U.S. sports venues. J.C. Newman operates a cigar lounge at Amalie Arena, home of the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Holt’s operates one at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, home to the 76ers and Flyers. In addition, CLE has a cigar lounge at Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers, and there’s a Montecristo Club at FedEx Field, home of Washington’s football team.

Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.